filmandcinemapuritans

After many disasters with the SPIDER MAN films(the third installment being the clunker), EVIL DEAD helmer Sam Rami comes back to his bread and butter. HORROR! And his new installment DRAG ME TO HELL does not dissapoint.

Allison Lohmann, works at a bank denys a gypsy woman an extention on her mortgage, there in turn the gypsy puts a curse on Lohmann. Classic recycled gags from all of Rami’s earlier movies come exploding off the screen, eye popping, blood squirting, weird wounding, it’s a refreshing nostolgic delight. I think if there will be any sequels I think Rami’s got the new Bruce Campbell(who was suprisingly absent from this film) in Lohmann.

AWESOME FLICK

Okay, I was shocked when I saw this one. Sasha Cohen, out did himself this time about an openly gay Austrian Fashion performer who goes to L.A. to become super famous. And of course, there is no real story, there is just Bruno insulting, making people puke and shocking the hell out of all the conservatives out there. The result is a very funny movie, BUT I feel BORAT was much better. The reason being was this film was too much like an echo to BORAT except with a different character. Borat was original in how it was presented but this too had the documentary style film making that made Borat such a hit. I feel Borat will be remembered and BRUNO will be sadly forgotten, good for a rental but nothing serious after that. I’m not saying that BRUNO isn’t funny, it’s just not as memorable.

A little thriller from the b-side of life actually was pleasant to watch, the 2008 thriller THE ALPABET KILLER. Based LOOSELY on true events, a Rochester, New York police detective, Elisa Duzku gets obsessed with a murder of a child who had the same letter in both her last and first name and was dropped off in a town with the same begining letter. The film then goes more of a character study as Duzku slowly loses her mind and begins to see the dead. This movie has a who’s who in horror movies: Tom Noonan(MANHUNTER, HOUSE OF THE DEVIL), Cary Elwes(KISS THE GIRLS, SAW), Michael Ironside(SCANNERS), Carl Lumbly (TV’s M.A.N.T.I.S), Bill Moseley(Devil’s Rejects), Melissa Leo (FROZEN RIVER), and Academy Award Winner Timothy Hutton (ORDINARY PEOPLE, THE DARK HALF). Regardless of the stars the acting is very good with some solid performances. Although the films IS NOT scary it’s entertaining. Definitely worth a viewing, Duzku shines in this role.

I know Halloween passed and that was my favorite time of year, but I found a great movie to watch on that date besides the John Carpenter film of the same name.

TRICK R TREAT by Michael Doughtery, plays on his short film of a small person who wears a burlap sack on his face and is more than what he seems on Halloween night. This film has a great cast comprised of Bryan Cox, Dylan Baker, Leslie Bibb and Oscar winner Anna Paquin. But the best part of this film is not about the stars its actually about the four stories woven throughout, with a good old fashioned twist with each this film was a delight rather than a bore. It brings back the horror anthologies from decades age(CREEPSHOW, TALES FROM THE CRYPT 1972). This film is out on DVD right now and is worth a viewing, plus this film has a new horror character to be added to the horror academy; SAM is his name. Sam likes treats and he wont stop until he gets what he wants.

I saw a film that bought me back to the age where horror movies had mood, intention and atmosphere, instead of violence, gore and just plain stupidity. I’m talking about Ti West’s historically accurate horror film, where he takes some of the best elements from the 1970’s and 1980’s and puts it into a film where you are transported back to that type of cinema. The credit sequences are a throw back to an earlier era, the hair styles, the technology, even the soft drink holders are relics. I love the authenticity of this movie. The film is about a college student who takes an unusual babysitting job for a lump sum of money. Throughout the duration of the film, we discover that the house that she is in is not the house that she thinks it is. Great acting, pacing, and some good action sequences. When the film does get violent it serves a purpose, unlike any of Rob Zombie’s films of late. I think Mr. Zombie could learn a lot from Mr. West, especially if these are the movies that the  man loves. Go see this movie, you’re guaranteed to have some nostalgic fun.

MAJOR SPOLIERS about this film so if you want to see this film stop reading this blog.

CAPTIVITY -In a word, STUPIDITY, should have been the title. Elisa Cuthbert(tv’s 24) gets kidnapped by a demented killer. He traps her in a room and gives her a few tests to test her mental ability. Cuthbert isn’t the only one getting tested, in the next room there is a young man as well being held captive too. Good premise right? WRONG! We have some non-sensible twists and turns, a twist that you saw coming a mile away, plot holes that need to be a paved, and a movie no-no, an old film is being displayed, guessing an old 8mm, of a mother sexually abusing her son, nothing sexually graphic. But we see that film is edited, and its actually being taken in the third person not the first person implying that there is somebody else filming. That’s interesting and all but we see another character later on in the old film so that character couldn’t’ of been the one filming. Who was behind the camera? Or was this just a glimpse into the killers mind? Either way no information is given to us as to who the cameraman is, and this isn’t good confusion this is classic BAD confusion. Avoid this film, because this movie is cliched and confusing, it seems like the only reason the killer kidnaps these young girls is to have sex with them. Did you ever hear of a date? This film is too sophisticated for its own good, with the killer actually having such high tech equipment to deliver a believable show, that he uses antiquated VHS! This movie needed to go back to the script department, and it should of stayed there. Ripping off SAW, THE CELL, MISERY, and SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, this movie should be ashamed of itself.

Does this film live up to the hype? For what it is, not really.  I actually LIKED the film, but I don’t find this to be the scarriest film of all time, however I want to see another viewing of it as the movie theater I was in had dimwitted adolesents that would shut up! Besdies that, I am not going to spoil any details for anybody who Hasn’t seen it.

But I suggest a rental instead, with no distraction, turn off the lights and turn up the surround sound because the devil is in all the details in this film. Yes the movie had it’s flaws, as all the handheld films in the past(BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, CLOVERFIELD), a quick example of this would be the reality of filming  non-stop in scary situations. But anyway, the story revolves a couple’s investigation into a haunting that revolves around a young girl. Through that they set up a camera to capture the events and to their suprise, they actually capture paranormal activity over and over again. Acting isn’t bad, the situation is kind of not believable(a few times while I was watching the movie I was actually admiring the house the film was shot in), but when the supernatural does it happen it makes you jump out of your chair. If you want to see it in a theater do it either during the day or an a school night, so you don’t run into the same group of kids that ruined it for me.

I RECOMMEND PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, its not memorable but its fun.

I’m not going to be a geek, I promise. I didn’t care for the new Hugh Jackman vehicle WOLVERINE. Being a comic book kid since I was a kid, I knew the origin of Wolverine and it did not go back to the civil war time. My question is that we Wolverine as a kid, he then becomes adult and doesn’t age for a whole century, when in the comic after he became Weapon X he became immortal. The film starts in the mid eighteen hundreds and the present day I believe was in the 1970’s. The plot is too conufsing to mention, I still don’t know the entire story, it took too much license. I would give this film two stars out of four.

It’s a rental.

I can’t believe I finally made it to my 200th post. I just want to thank all my loyal readers.

Now on to Roman Polanski, the famous director was finally arrested yesterday for an incident that happened in 1977. The director was found guility of sexually abusing a girl 32 years ago and the following year he fled to france. Polanski has made some great films; CHINATOWN, ROSEMARY’S BABY, THE TENENT, AND THE PIANO, but nothing in art can overshadow tht fact that is a wanted crimial that did something to a child. So to fire off a cliche I’m glad they caught him and I hope they throw a really big book at him.

Just when I  decided to give up on movies and this blog all together I went to the movies last night. It was a late night decision but I’m a big Dennis Quaid fan and the trailer for PANDORUM peaked my interest.

This film is the reason why going to the movies always out beats a cellphone video anyday, this film kicked serious behind on the screen. It was a movie that had things that a lot of hollywood movies don’t have, which is a script, a plot, good action, decent performances and a passionate director.

This film stars Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster as astronaughts who wake up on a flight with no memory of how or who they are.  The film unfolds with some good horror scares, good sci-fi imagery, and a star turn by Ben Foster. I really don’t want to give away the plot too much because this is a movie that is worth a viewing, sadly I just found out that it just opened at number five at the box office. So if anybody reads this and wants to watch a good sci-fi/horror flick that has great twists and almost original story. Forget the meatball movie and go see PANDORUM.